


Red umbrella

by TheOccasionalSquirrel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Neighbors AU, Slightly - Freeform, also umbrellas, hand holding, i am doign this for her, i love u sandy, i wrote this so my wife wouldn't divorce me, idk man i just want sandy to love me, it is time to post, it's just boys sharing an umbrella, it's romantic, klance, they hold hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 18:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21059237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOccasionalSquirrel/pseuds/TheOccasionalSquirrel
Summary: There's something lovelier about the world after rain. Softer, gentler. Still warm, though.





	Red umbrella

On Monday, the sun decided to burn the world, so Lance decided to put off his homework in favor of going to the pool. His friends are there, of course. And even at 17, there is nothing Lance and his friends would rather do than race up the stairs of the waterslide and see who would manage to get down unbruised. It was almost always Pidge who slid down fastest thanks to their “secret” water sliding techniques.

Keith is there, too, but much to Lance’s dismay he won’t join them in the water. He hides underneath one of the sun umbrellas and snacks on Lance’s chips when he thinks Lance isn’t looking. 

And while the sun is kind to Lance and makes him glow with youth and joy, to Keith, it is cruel and burns his cheekbones. Romelle is the first to comment on it, and she is just close enough that pushing her into the pool is a viable option. With the sun high and Keith’s tolerance low, Keith manages to throw both himself and Romelle back into the water.

The late summer warmth persisted on Tuesday, and instead of trapping himself in his room with homework and the heat, Lance decided that the assignment could wait another day and went outside. While ice cream and a gentle breeze cool his head, the laughter of Lance’s friends warms his heart.

Wednesday morning, and the warmth had started to move. Allura had made an off-hand comment about the storm that was bound to come tomorrow, and Lance made note to shelter the plants his mama kept on the balcony. In the afternoon he waved at Keith, who was doing the same. 

“Shiro making you do all the hard work, ey?” Lance asks, loud enough so that Keith can hear him.

“He has a plant obsession,” Keith yells back, moving yet another tray filled with small pots of succulents. He’s as likely to knock them over as the storm. “And of course,” he continued as he got back out on the balcony. “I’m the one who has to take care of it,” he finished, picking up yet another pot, this one with some kind of tree Keith couldn’t bother to remember the name of.

Lance just smiled. He knew very well how big brothers could get, he had two of them. “Do you need some help?” he called. Only slightly disappointed when Keith declined.

“I only have a few more to go. Besides, I still have to do the chem assignment,” Keith said, but the way he smiled at Lance, the way he shrugged, the way his sun-burned shoulders seemed to wink at him... 

One of these days. One of these days Lance would get the chance to confess how important Keith is to him. 

“Don’t forget your umbrella tomorrow,” Keith said as a way of parting and closed his balcony door.

On Thursday afternoon, the first signs of rain started to show on the school window, and Lance realized three things. 

It was raining.  
His chemistry assignment was due Friday evening.  
He’d forgotten his umbrella.

Knowing that he would rather catch up on his assignments now than get completely soaked in the rain, Lance decided to wait it out and spend the time finishing that assignment. 

But it keeps raining.

And raining.

And raining. 

“At least the balcony plants are safe and home,” he thought to himself as he stretched in his chair. Three hours and what he could imagine was lots, and lots of rain, he had finished his homework for the week.

Soon enough, teachers come around to say they are closing up the school, and say something along the lines of “Sorry kiddo I don’t have an umbrella either, I could drive you home if you don’t mind sticking around for another two hours." 

And it’s not like Lance wouldn’t like a drive home, but he said, "I really should be going now Ms Fletcher, my mom will get worried if I’m home late.”

Ms Fletcher, darling that she is, just sighs. “Be safe!” And then she’s gone. And Lance is staring at the rain, falling only inches away from his nose. 

He sighs and clutches his bag close to his chest. Lance is really, really not looking forward to getting soaked to the bone just because he was foolish enough to forget his umbrella.

‘Don’t forget your umbrella tomorrow,’ Keith had tried to remind him, in that charming, taunting, way of his. He can see that mullet too, as it’s hidden by a red umbrella-

Wait.

Wait just a second.

He’d recognize that mullet anywhere. 

“Keith!!” he calls, and maybe the Sun isn’t shining, but all of Lance’s lucky stars are. Because when Keith turns around his face lights up like a candle in the dark. 

Or maybe that’s just Lance waxing poetic, because Keith doesn’t walk all the way over to him. He stops a good meter away from Lance and maybe it’s because he’s closer now, but Lance notices Keith’s grin is not as good-intentioned as Lance thought. 

The red umbrella and the boy taunt him.

“Did you forget something, Lance?” Keith asks as he spins his umbrella.

Lance tries to play it cool, leans against the now-locked door of the school. “No, no,” he says, ignores the way Keith smirks. “Just wanted to say hi, didn’t see you at lunch today.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Well, if you must know, I was helping out Ms Fletcher. We sheltered the plants on the rooftop garden,” he answers, his tone only the tiniest bit defensive.

“Did Ms Fletcher give you the umbrella too?” Lance teases, Keith rolls his eyes.

“No, Lance. Some of actually remember to check the weather forecast,” Keith snaps, Lance chuckles.

“Will you let me in already?” Lance pushes off the wall and holds out his hand, palm collecting rain drops. “Mom won’t let me inside the house if I arrive drenched as a rat,” Keith sighs, but he can’t deny Lance. 

“Come on,” he says, tilts his umbrella just enough so that a grinning Lance can join him under it. 

It’s a bit cramped, the umbrella’s meant for only one person after all, but they make do. Pressed against one another as they walk, the rain merciless and unforgiving, soaking through the side of lance’s coat where the umbrella isn’t wide enough to shield him. 

He guesses it’s the same for Keith on the other side. So instead of nudging Keith for more space—that would be so rude, and Lance might be forgetful but he is not rude— he stayed right where he was. Lance slithers his arm under Keith’s, so that they’re locked together, and holds the umbrella, his fingers only barely brushing Keith’s. 

And Keith, ever so patient Keith, covers Lance’s hand with his own. (And offers no explanation other than “Commit to it, coward”)

A few years down the line, Keith personally makes sure his husband doesn’t forget his umbrella. But for now he and Lance will share one, and hold hands even when the rain stops.

There's something lovelier about the world after rain. Softer, gentler. Still warm, though.


End file.
